Skipton’s security cameras are set to be scrapped following a withdrawal of funding.

Craven District Council is planning to end its annual £51,500 monitoring contract with Harrogate Borough Council. And unless another body steps in to take over the cost, the seven CCTV cameras will be turned off in six months’ time.

County councillor Shelagh Marshall, chairman of the Safer Craven Community Partnership, said the group was astonished by the withdrawal of funding.

“I don’t believe that the councillors are fully aware of the benefits which the CCTV cameras have brought to Skipton,” she said.

And she claimed the partnership had been given no warning.

“Giving the partnership no advance notice of their proposals, apart from that reported in the Craven Herald, leaves us with no opportunity to seek alternative sources of funding or discuss the proposals with partners,” she said.

“As chairman of the Safer Craven Community Partnership, I think I can safely say we are very, very disappointed in Craven District Council’s arbitrary action.”

At last week’s full council meeting, the withdrawal of CCTV funding was approved as part of planned £2.5 million savings over the next two years.

At the meeting, Coun Marshall urged councillors to change their minds. She said the partnership understood the financial difficulties the council was in, but that there would be serious implications if the cameras were removed.

“The cameras have played a significant part in reducing crime in Craven by a third during the last three years,” she said. “It is a vital service for Craven District Council.”

Coun Marshall said the police were also unhappy with the decision and that, once removed, the cost of replacing the cameras would be prohibitive.

“If safety is reduced in the town centre, the partnership believes there will be a reduction in the number of visitors and this in turn could affect the economical viability of Skipton’s businesses, particularly retail.”

Coun Marshall said although many individual shops and businesses had their own security cameras, they did not operate on the same terms.

Skipton’s CCTV system was launched in November 2000. The seven cameras, installed in the town’s car parks, the High Street, Newmarket Street and Keighley Road, were paid for out of a £128,000 bid tendered by the then Craven Community Partnership and supported by businesses and the Craven Herald.

The cameras record 24 hours a day with images monitored in Harrogate.

At the time, they were hailed as improving people’s quality of life by helping to reduce crime and the fear of crime.

But a council report in February 2007 concluded that the CCTV cameras were not effective. The report said the police believed the cameras no longer had any deterrent value as much of the town’s crime was carried out by people under the influence of alcohol.

The year before, it was revealed that the monitoring centre had contacted the police on 12 occasions and images had been requested 64 times.

At the time, councillors considered other options including monitoring images in Skipton and reducing it to weekends only.